Christina Board President leads central office purge and stifles public opinion while hapless board just watches the district burn…

Christina Board Meeting footage

Last night, the Christina School District Board held its monthly meeting.

It was a doozy. They accepted a long overdue resignation from their superintendent and then summarily fired four district employees via a contract non-renewal technique all while suffering through Board President Dr. Meredith Griffin’s repeated attempts to muzzle and the actual muzzling of taxpayers (aka his constituents) at a public mic at a public meeting WITHOUT board approval. (more on this in a future post)

He was primarily aided and abetted in the purge by board members Dr. Keeley Powell and Dr. Claire O’Neal mostly by their stark silence, who also happen to work together at the University of Delaware in the same department (UD College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment: here and here) and are the two shortest tenured board members. Dr. Griffin shared a vague sensability regarding cultural change being at the core of his reasoning and was rebuked politely by Mr. Evans and Mr. Polaski. Mr. Evans even offered Dr. Griffin a reminder that he can resign at any time which triggered Dr. Griffin’s limitless ego to make sure that if he was leading with such a consequential decision he would remain to see it through, even if his resignation would bring better things to the students of Christina. In related news and on Dr. Griffin’s watch, children with IEPs languish at Glasgow…silence is complicity Drs.

I’m sure specific reasoning was shared appropriately in executive, but the public vote seemed to be devoid of any reasoning on face that related to performance even if only an obtuse reference to assure the public that they were witnessing a fair process. That said, we do not know who was let go (for now… as I assume it will become public eventually as these things tend to get out over time) so we can not judge the potential impact. I actually agree that there are some seasoned administrators that have overstayed their welcome, but I know after 10 years on the board that there are legal advice and legal jeopardy concerns that come along with such an action. It’s going to be a curious spring in Christina.

Dr. Griffin made a mess of the proceeding last night with his usurpation of his fellow members’ assent and running the meeting in a very heavy-handed way. His actions last night will almost certainly act to doom the referendum to a grisly death as Richard Gregg marches to the exit with no apparent motivation to stabilize the district he has placed into a position ripe for receivership by unscrupulous GA members like the pearl clutching Paul Baumbach, who curiously was not gaveled out by Dr. Griffin at the public mic. Last night’s display of hubris by Dr. Griffin and the inexplicable support and complicity of Dr. Powell and Dr. O’Neal was astounding to behold quite frankly.

As I said in a previous post: thanks, for absolutely nothing Mr. Gregg as this board will now stumble and flail on its way to reap the bitter fruit of the rancid seeds you have sown.